


Mariposa

by ninjamcgarrett



Category: Real Person Fiction
Genre: Animals, Fluff, Football | Soccer, Kitten, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-01
Updated: 2013-04-01
Packaged: 2017-12-07 03:18:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/743574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninjamcgarrett/pseuds/ninjamcgarrett
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sergio goes for a run to a nearby park, gets caught in a thunderstorm, and adopts an abandoned kitten he finds there. He and Iker decide to keep the kitten but have trouble naming it. Adorable fluff with a kitten - enjoy!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mariposa

Flamenco music floated from Sergio’s headphones as he tied the laces on his shoes while sitting and stretching in the entryway of the home he shared with Iker. Dark clouds scuttled across the sun as Iker turned the page on a novel he was reading where he was stretched out on the couch. Sergio stood and walked over to kiss him, strong arms planted on either side of the goalkeeper on the cushions. Iker smiled up at him and pulled out one of Sergio’s earphones.

“Take a jacket,” he said to Sergio, who smiled and shook his head.

“I’ll be fine. Those clouds don’t have any rain in them.”

Iker just sighed, one eyebrow raised before smiling and returning to his book. As Sergio stood and walked by him, Iker reached over and smacked Sergio’s ass, chuckling as Sergio leaned back to ruffle his hair.

The defender left the house, turning up the volume of his music while jogging down the quiet residential street. He headed for the nearby park, the same one that two years before had witnessed the late night penalty kicks that had led to his first kiss with Iker. A smile appeared on Sergio’s face as he reached the park and began to run around its perimeter, the memories coming back vividly as he ran by the goal where a group of local boys were playing football. He smiled and waved to them as he continued on his run around the park.

A few minutes later, he had circled the park and was well into his second lap, nearing the goal again when a large crack of thunder sounded and the skies opened up, dumping a deluge of rainwater on area. The strike of thunder and lightning had startled the boys, their ball arcing off into the nearby bushes where it collided with something small and dark that shot out of the bushes and flew through the air away from the ball and cowered behind Sergio.

He looked down, drenched and startled, to find a small kitten, no older than six weeks, shaking and wet, staring up at him with the clearest green eyes he had ever seen in an animal. The boys fled the park as the rain continued its deluge and Sergio bent down to scoop up the soaked and terrified ball of fur. It regarded him warily until he held up one finger for it to sniff. When the kitten did so, and sensed no threat from him, it mewed pitifully.

Sergio held the kitten close to his chest with one hand held over it to block the rain as he walked toward the bushes the kitten had been hiding in. He looked for any sign of mother cat or other kittens but found none. The footballer held the kitten up to his face and studied it for a moment.

The kitten was scrawny, its fur wet from the rain. It had tuxedo markings with delicate white paws and a white belly. A thin stripe of white hairs down its dark nose stood out against the black fur and green eyes.

He smiled and rubbed a finger under the kitten’s chin. “You tried to a have a white nose, didn’t you, sweetheart?”

The kitten squeaked, leaning into his finger and Sergio smiled.

“Look’s like you’re all alone here. Let’s take you home.”

The rain was falling in sheets and turning the park into a small pool. Sergio stripped his shirt off, kicking himself that he hadn’t taken Iker’s advice, and wrapped the shirt around the kitten to keep it warm and out of the rain. He jogged back to the house and pushed the door shut with his foot once he was inside. His shoes squelched on the stone in the entryway as he toed off the soaked Nikes.

Iker looked up from his book and quirked one eyebrow at the balled shirt held gently in front of Iker’s bare chest. He sat up and put the book down on the end table nearby.

“Sese, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Sergio nodded and walked forward, rain dripping off of him and leaving a trail behind him. Iker stood to get a better look at what Sergio was holding in his shirt. When he saw the little green eyes peeking out at him, he looked up at his partner.

“Is that what I think it is?”

“I found her in the park when the thunderstorm started. I think she was abandoned. Well, I couldn’t just leave her there!” Sergio said, trying to defend his choice to bring home the kitten.

“Relax, Sese,” Iker said softly, with a smile. “I wasn’t saying you should have. Just wasn’t expecting you to come back with a kitten when you left on your run.”

Iker gently scooped the kitten out of Sergio’s shirt and studied the tiny kitten.

“Can we keep her?” Sergio asked, a smile on his face, watching Iker holding the kitten.

“I don’t know, Sese. I mean, we can afford it, but what about when we have to travel for matches?”

“Irina’s been bugging Cris about getting a pet for ages now. She and Cris Jr. could come watch the cat when we travel.”

“Really? In the five minutes since you found her, you’ve thought about this?” Iker said, half-laughing.

Sergio nodded, a large smile on his face now. “We can take her to the nearby vet tomorrow when they open to make sure she’s healthy and tonight we can go buy her a bed and food and all sorts of toys.”

Iker looked up into Sergio’s large brown eyes that were bright with hope and sighed. “Okay,” he said, watching Sergio’s smile brighten. “Let’s give this a try.”

The kitten mewed then, as if to voice her agreement, and both men laughed as they went to find a few towels to gently dry her off with.

 

It took only two nights for them to name the kitten. The veterinarian had warned them that the kitten might ignore her little bed they had bought her and instead join them in bed because she was still growing and needed body heat to keep warm when asleep. Iker and Sergio didn’t know how precisely the kitten would do that, however.

Both men were sound asleep the second night after rescuing the kitten. Her little bed was in the room and before all three had fallen asleep, Iker and Sergio had spent an hour playing with her to wear her out so that she would sleep through the night. Truth be told, Iker was glad they had decided to keep the kitten. It was a lot of work raising a kitten, but this particular ball of black and white fur was fun and easy to take care of, to say nothing of how much she loved cuddling. Earlier that day, she had scrambled up into Iker’s lap while he had been reading and proceeded to curl up on his chest, just over his heart, and fall asleep, her quiet purrs making him smile. Sergio had fallen in love with the kitten, taking lots of pictures of her and making Cris ready to murder him by sending the pictures to Irina – who only begged him for a kitten of their own, and spending as much time as he could manage playing with or cuddling the kitten. Now, both footballers were asleep in bed – but not for long.

A very high-pitched shriek escaped Sergio as the kitten leapt up onto the bed and landed, kitten claws fully extended, on his butt. Iker sat up and saw what had happened, laughing as the kitten kneaded the sheets over Sergio’s back end, while he pulled his head up from the pillow and craned his neck around to see what had happened.

“She’s got good taste,” Iker said with a sleepy chuckle. “Second time she’s landed there since you brought her home, Sese.”

“Yeah, yeah, you say that now, but one of these nights it’ll be your ass she lands on with those little claws. Flies like a butterfly, stings like a bee, if you ask me.”

Iker looked at Sergio then, a smile appearing. “I think we just found a name for her.”

“What?” Sergio asked, scooping the kitten off his butt so that he could roll over onto his back and place her on his chest, where she curled up again.

“Mariposa,” Iker said, repeating the Spanish word for ‘butterfly’.

Sergio tucked an arm behind his head, one hand gently playing with the kitten’s tail, as he looked at Iker. He looked down at the kitten, who gave him an innocent smile while kneading him with her little claws. A smile appeared as he spoke.

“Mariposa,” he said softly. The kitten looked up at him and mewed, which turned into a yawn.

Iker laughed. “That’s settled then. Mariposa.”

The kitten looked over at him and squeaked happily when he nuzzled her chin with one finger.

Sergio tipped his head to the side and softly kissed Iker.

“I like it,” he said, smiling as Iker settled his head on Sergio’s chest, “but I guarantee you won’t when she lands on you tomorrow night.”

Iker’s laugh rumbled quietly in the dark and within minutes the two footballers and the new addition to their little family were deeply asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I have a weakness for kitten fics, especially with an OTP - like this one! The first kiss that Sergio reminisces about when he runs to the park at the beginning of this fic is actually another fic of mine called "One...Two...Three...Dribble...Shoot..." and you can find it here on AO3! Thank you for reading!


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